In its latest economic brief on monetary developments, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) reports that money supply (M2) rose by only 0.1% in April, the smallest increase in four months. This followed a strong increase in March and rapid growth in 1Q06 which topped an annualized 52%.

The small increase in M2 in April helped ease year-on-year growth in money supply to 15.5%. A large drop in the deposits of local banks with foreign banks was a main drag on money supply growth having offset a continued strong rise in domestic credit.